NEW YORK -- Prosecutors dropped murder charges in a New York case against a retired FBI supervisor after a journalist’s interview indicated a lead witness perjured herself.Prosecutors had charged Roy Lindley DeVecchio, 67, with aiding in the slayings of four organized crime informers. The charges alleged that DeVecchio gave an informer, Gregory Scarpa of the Colombo crime family, orders to kill other informers and providing Scarpa with information about pending arrests, The New York Times ... [full story]

LONDON -- Britain's highest court began hearing arguments Thursday from a woman seeking some of the money her convicted rapist won in a national lottery.Identified only as "Mrs. A." in court documents, the 77-year-old retired school teacher is fighting a statute of limitations on civil claims, The Times of London reported.The woman was raped in Leeds in 1988, and Iorwoth Hoare was convicted and sentenced to life in prison the following year. In 2004 while ... [full story]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- The top aide to Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt resigned after a story about the aide spending time in a bar with a political reporter emerged.State Secretary Ulrica Schenstrom resigned Wednesday after reports of her visiting a Stockholm bar with reporter Anders Pihlblad, including photos showing her apparently kissing the reporter, surfaced last week, The Local reported Thursday. Schenstrom and Pihlblad deny they are romantically involved.In her letter to Reinfeldt, Schenstrom said ... [full story]

ATLANTA -- Two airline passengers have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a number of knives and box cutters aboard a plane at the Atlanta airport.The incident took place last week when baggage screeners spotted 20 small knives, several box-cutter blades and a large “Chinese-style fighting knife” in their luggage, WAGA-TV in Atlanta reported Thursday.Atlanta police said the knives had been wrapped in foil while the blades were secreted in the battery compartment of ... [full story]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A federal appeals court panel has ordered Illinois' former Republican governor, George Ryan, to report to prison Nov. 7 to begin serving a 6 ½ year sentence. Ryan, 73, who served one-term as governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted on federal corruption charges in April 2006 after a six-month trial. He was accused of accepting cash, gifts and vacations from friends and lobbyists in return for state contracts. He and co-defendant ... [full story]

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- A woman charged with illegally videotaping a Florida circuit judge has pleaded no contest to a lesser charge after spending 83 days in jail.Julie Ann Domotor of Delray Beach, Fla., originally faced three felony charges for videotaping Circuit Judge Richard Wennet, her one-time lover, admiring a topless sunbather at Peanut Island, Fla,, then posting the video on YouTube.com, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported Thursday.Domotor, 41, pleaded no contest to a ... [full story]

BERLIN -- The Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany acknowledged its founding leadership contained members of ex-Nazi police forces.Jorg Zierke, chief of the Federal Criminal Police Office, known by its German abbreviation BKA, said at a conference examining the organizations Nazi history, “It is only through debate about our past that we can map out our future in a responsible way,” Deutsche Welle reported Thursday.The BKA previously obscured its Nazi past, stating at the organization's ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- A barrage of at least 13 rockets were fired into Israel's western Negev region Thursday but no injuries were reported, the Israeli military said.At least nine rockets fired from the Gaza Strip fell on open fields and the others caused minor structural damage, Ynetnews.com reported.Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees' Salah al-Din Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks that terrified residents, the report said."It was one of the scariest days ... [full story]

TOGLIATTI, Russia, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A suspect has been identified in a deadly bus bombing in the southern Russian city of Togliatti, Russian investigators said Thursday.Inspector Alexander Bastrykin said a man's apartment had been searched and bomb parts that "could have been used for the preparation of a homemade explosive device," had been found, the Novosti news agency reported.The blast on a city bus during Wednesday's morning rush hour killed eight people and injured ... [full story]

SYDNEY -- Australian police charged a Sydney man with murder after a retired man watering his lawn was attacked because of drought-imposed water restrictions.Todd Munter, 36, appeared in court Thursday on charges he attacked, punched and kicked Ken Proctor to the ground in a dispute over watering.Proctor was watering during a permitted time, The Telegraph of Australia reported. He was reportedly accosted by Munter and turned the hose on Munter, who punched him several times ... [full story]